NWA (JCP) World Championship Wrestling (June 7, 1986)

 

Original Airdate: June 7, 1986 (taped June 1)

From Atlanta, Georgia; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and David Crockett, in their best summer suits

Ron Garvin is out, and very excited about the Great American Bash

The Rock 'n' Roll Express v Bob Owens and Kent Glover: Ricky Morton is still sporting the face guard here, since he’s a good babyface. The Express with a combo at 1:27. DUD

Jim Cornette is out to promise a beating for Baby Doll… while flanked by Big Bubba Rogers, in case she comes out

NWA World Champion Ric Flair is out, and there’s a group of guys in the front row all dressed up like him, with a big ‘Slick Ric’ sign. Flair riffs on Dusty Rhodes this week, and if this entire show was just Flair promos, it would be my all time favorite show

Manny Fernandez v Larry Clarke: After Cornette and Flair, they should just pack it up, no one else should even bother. Fernandez with the jumping forearm at 1:21. Afterwards, Manny swings by the desk, and Jimmy Valiant is out to meet him, since the level of ‘suck’ isn’t strong enough yet. DUD

NWA World Title Match: Ric Flair v Dusty Rhodes: From San Antonio Texas on May 22 1986 (most likely, as that was the only record of a singles match between them that took place between Crockett Cup and this episode). Dusty knocks him around early on, dominating things. Flair manages to get him down for a kneedrop, but Rhodes starts moving again, and catches the champion with a jumping clothesline for two. Flair goes up, but Dusty slams him off the top, so Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard run in for the DQ at 3:48. I’m actually someone who is usually a fan of the Flair/Rhodes matches, but this wasn’t really one of them, it was just water treading until the run in. Afterwards, Ole Anderson makes his return to complete the Four Horsemen, and they deliver a beatdown, until Magnum TA and Ricky Morton make the save. DUD

Arn Anderson is out to gloat about the return of Ole

At a recent event, the NWA Board of Directors announced an official reprimand of Magnum TA for ‘conduct unbecoming’ due to his brawl with Nikita Koloff at their contract signing, which Magnum responds to by decking Bob Geigel. Geigel’s response: strip Magnum of the NWA United States title

Nikita Koloff and Ivan Koloff are out, and Nikita thinks he’s the US champion now that Magnum is stripped. But Jim Crockett shows up to burst his bubble, announcing that Koloff will face Magnum in a best-of-seven series for the belt along the Great American Bash tour

Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard v George South and Randy Mulkey: It’s great to see the Horsemen in their heyday. Arn puts this one away at 1:41. DUD

Great American Bash Update

Recently, Schiavone caught up with Waylon Jennings, who will be a part of the Bash tour

Baby Doll is out to present a pre-taped Dusty Rhodes promo on Ole Anderson

Nikita Koloff v Todd Champion: The announcers put Todd over as an ‘exciting young man,’ and he definitely looks like a potential star. He never really became one, but he stuck around for a long time, so at least that. Koloff with the Russian sickle at 3:51. ¼*

Tully Blanchard and JJ Dillon are out, and they’re sick of how dangerous Ron Garvin is to everyone, and they’re ready to turn the tables on him. Good promo from Dillon here

Magnum TA is out, and he’s still carrying around the US title, despite being stripped of it. He’s fuming, since he won it in the ring, and doesn’t appreciate having it taken away from him without getting beat. Shawn Michaels should sit this kid down for a talk

Barbarian and Shaska Whatley v Jim Dawson and Italian Stallion: Paul Jones cuts promos on commentary during this one, fuming about Valiant showing photoshopped photos of him as a bald man earlier. Shaska with a superplex at 4:31. Afterwards, Manny, Valiant, and Ron Garvin run out, and they trim off some of Shaska’s hair. Eye for an eye. So to speak. Though, the optics of three white guys holding a black man down and cutting his hair against his will doesn’t look great on TV. DUD

And speaking of horrible optics, Wahoo McDaniel is out, and he once again reminds Precious that he will straight up knock her out if she gets in his face

Wahoo McDaniel v Lee Peek: Wahoo is all fired up about Jimmy Garvin, so much so that he goes right to the headlocks. Boy, you don’t want to get this guy mad. Wahoo at 3:05. DUD

Cornette and Big Bubba are back out to mock Baby Doll’s cowgirl outfit, noting that she’s “more cow than girl”

The Midnight Express v Vernon Deaton and Rober Burroughs: The NWA World Tag Team title is not on the line here, and Cornette stays on commentary for it. He gets a funny line in here about Deaton having a bad ‘drug problem.’ You see, because he ‘gets drug all around the ring’ by the Express. Tony’s reaction when Cornette asks if he knows that Deaton ‘has a bad drug problem’ is the best part here, sounding like he’s shocked that Jim would bring that up on the air. That man has a family! The Express with a rocket launcher at 5:29. Too long. DUD

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express are out to announce a Rock ‘n’ Roll Express lookalike contest. I think we can safely say that there were no winners there

Ron Garvin v Bill Tabb: I’m still not into Garvin. I get that others bought into his character, and I can see some of the appeal, but he just annoys me more than anything else. And associating with Fernandez and Valiant earlier really didn’t help. Ron at 3:04. DUD

Manny Fernandez and Jimmy Valiant are out, since I guess we want my blood pressure to spike today? They’re very proud that they lynched Whatley earlier

The James Boys are out, threatening to bust into Jim Cornette’s mom’s house. Kind of ironic, since Magnum literally just lost the US title for his stance that no one should ever bring someone’s mama into things

Jimmy Garvin and Steve Regal v Rocky King and Paul Garner: Garvin is great at being a heel. He just makes you hate him with every movement and mannerism. Regal puts this away with a Russian legsweep at 4:35. I wish they’d been rushin’ through this dull squash. Afterwards, they swing by the desk to show off their new classified ad for a ‘slightly used Indian.’ DUD

BUExperience: Good show this week. Most of the squashes didn’t drag on forever, and there were some really memorable angles.